How to change several files names in a specific folder on Python?

Question

so I've been using the following code to change the file name of all of the files in a specific folder.

import os
[os.rename(f,f.replace('20180810','2018_08_10')) for f in os.listdir()]

The issue I'm having is that whenever I use this code, I have to save a copy of it and paste it in the folder where the files are present. I'd like to be able to have a general code where I can specify the path without having to be in that folder. I tried the following but for some reason it says it can't find the file:

path = 'E:/CSVFILES/20180808/'
[os.rename(f,f.replace('20180810','2018_08_10')) for f in os.listdir(path)]

If I run os.listdir(path), it runs fine and it displays the files in the folder, so I'm not sure why it's not working.

Thanks!

Tim · Accepted Answer · 2018-11-07 16:56:56Z

2

os.listdir lists all the files in the directory, but without the full path, and os.replace requires a full path if the file isn't in the working directory. Instead, use iglob, which returns full paths:

>>> from glob import iglob
>>> path = 'E:/CSVFILES/20180808/*'
>>> for f in iglob(path):
>>>     os.rename(f, f.replace('20180810','2018_08_10'))

Edit: Because your files are in a location that contains the same text that you're trying to replace, you can use basename and join to only replace the text in the filename:

>>> from glob import iglob
>>> from os.path import basename, join
>>> path = 'E:/CSVFILES/20180808'
>>> for f in iglob(join(path, "*")):
>>>     os.rename(f, join(path, basename(f).replace('20180810','2018_08_10')))

edited Nov 7, 2018 at 16:56

answered Nov 7, 2018 at 16:31

Tim

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3 Comments

ATP Over a year ago

Thanks for your reply! I get the following error when I try that: FileNotFoundError: [WinError 3] The system cannot find the path specified: 'E:/CSVFILES/20180808\\ismRawTec_G10_20180808.csv' -> 'E:/CSVFILES/2018_08_08\\ismRawTec_G10_2018_08_08.csv'

Tim Over a year ago

That's because your files in are in a directory called 20180808, so your replace method tries to replace both, and write files to a directory that doesn't exist. You can fix this with the basename function - see my edit above.

Tim Over a year ago

Hi @Julian if this or any answer has solved your question please consider accepting it by clicking the check-mark. This indicates to the wider community that you've found a solution and gives some reputation to both the answerer and yourself. There is no obligation to do this.

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